Make Your Own Smart Watch

Wearables are all the rage lately. Have you been eyeing the Pebble or one of the new smart watches lately but are not sure if it’s for you? With [GodsTale’s] “Retro Watch” you can now build your own, allowing you to try out a smart watch without making a huge investment.

This smart watch uses very common and easy to obtain parts: Arduino Pro Mini, HC-06 Bluetooth module, Adafruit’s 0.96’’ OLED display, and a lithium battery. It is amazing how few parts can be used to make such a functional project. While the example packaging shown is a bit rugged around the edges, it gets the job done. Having such simple hardware allows [GodsTale] to focus on the software. One of the coolest aspects of this project is the Android app [GodsTale] provides. The app provides basic functionality, such as viewing RSS feeds and Android notifications. Check out the GitHub and a more detailed write-up for more information.

It would be great to see this project evolve in the future, it has so much potential. We would love to see a custom circuit board, or a model for a 3D printed case for this awesome smart watch. See a video of the Retro Watch in action after the break. If you thought this was cool, check out a few of these recent hacks.

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20 thoughts on “Make Your Own Smart Watch”

That’s 60% of articles today that are from Instructables! Isn’t that a bit much? Don’t get me wrong – I like Instructables. There’ some good stuff on there, but that’s probably why I tend to look there too and have seen them already.

says the guy who currently doesn’t wear a watch ‘because it only tells time’.

2way/’smart’ watches are capable of so much more, and offer interesting use cases far beyond what a typical watch does, making them much more compelling.

i can sell a million overnight, get me a design a woman would wear, and a marketing guy to spread the message ‘women, no more digging through your purse to find your phone!!!’ done.

this design….. needs some work. cool project though. cant help but think skipping all of this hackery and instead using a completely open source sony device with your own custom firmware (they’ve released the tools to do this) to focus on the software implementation is the way to go…

I’ve used that OLED display in my Beaglebone. I love it. I own a TI Chronos, the original hackable watch, and I’ve always wanted a better smartwatch. I’d like to see if any of the 430 boards I have on hand could be adapted, since I don’t normally do Arduino.

Pretty sure that you’re gonna get arrested for fisting an airport security guy no matter what you’re wearing…

First person to come up with a nice waterproof housing that can be used for custom watches wins a cookie. Until then, these homebrew devices really aren’t that interesting. What’s the point in a watch that I can’t even wear in the rain?

Tech Republic recently had an article about “wearables” and that users typically lose interest in them after 2-3 months. I like my Timex watches, but the wrist bands don’t seem to last a year, so it means I end up buying 3-5 bands for each watch before they go to that Great Resting Place in the sock drawer.